Contents

Part A

Everyone wanted to talk, so they change out over the course of the movie.

At the time of recording the first scene with Homura's voiceover, she only had the first half of the movie script. She said that it really left an impression on her.

They then point out that in the back channels you can vaguely hear Madoka narrating behind Homura's main narration. Saitou says that it sounds like she's reading a picture book, and Yuuki says that in the script, it was actually all in hiragana which is actually rather hard to read. (As an analogy, imagine reading English with no spaces or punctuation.)

Then they say that they really like the main opening scene. The stage directions were too vague to understand, so they had no idea what it would look like reading from the scripts. Things like "A ballerina is born from a droplet" which make perfect sense upon watching, but are rather difficult to picture beforehand.

It really seems very playful. They leave out the Aniplex intro so that you can enjoy the show as much as possible, for example.

Saitou comments that compared to the previous Madoka works, the flavor is rather more dreamlike. It's more pastel-colored, like a dream.

And then there's Madoka there in costume for no reason at all. And then Sayaka and Kyouko are also alive again. Why might that be? Everyone's alive.

Saitou mentions that it feels like it's on film, with a border on the edges. It's like "Is this reality? or not?" And then there's the song Mada Dame Yo! They do note that Madoka really is the most typical mahou shoujo out of all of the magical girls. And there's Mami, the big senpai, and for some reason Bebe (Charlotte) is with her.

And then there's the "Was it all a dream?", they joke but instead it's "It's morning already?"

Next, they talk about how for the disc release, a lot of things were redone relative to the screening. Something like a thousand cuts, more than half of them, were redone, for the people who'd watch it over and over to get all the details. (or something like that) If you go over it frame by frame, every one will be cute now.

Yuuki says that the scene with Madoka waking up her mom is probably surprising to viewers who had been watching from the very beginning. It gives you a sorta deja-vu feeling, and a lot of unease.

Then they comment on the house, which as usual looks absolutely enormous. It'd be awfully cold in winter, for example. What on earth is Madoka's mother's job that she can afford it?

They then note that Madoka already has the soul gem ring on. There are certainly some differences. In Homura's world Kazuko-sensei still has her love issues, but here it's actually worse than before. What you see here are exaggerations, emphasizing the parts of the characters that Homura remembers. Like the emphasized tomato that Tatsuya is trying to stab. It doesn't even have any connotations, but it's in the world. Just a tasty-looking cherry tomato. And like Kyubey in the bath.

(7:35) And now the opening comes up, Colorful. When Yuuki first saw it, she thought it was too sad, because Homura wasn't there but all the others were having fun. Saitou also added that the opening theme wasn't done yet by the time of the first recording. It's too sad, they keep saying. They said that there'd probably be a lot of people going "What's going on" making noise in the theater during the opening, because the feeling something's wrong is so strong.

And then it goes right back to the bright music and colorful colors. Except Kyubey's there. And Kyouko's there, in uniform!

And now they finally get some significant interaction between Madoka and Kyouko. But finally they're classmates now. But also, this time, Yuuki's happy that Sayaka and Kyouko get to be "lovey-dovey". They make a good combo. They actually were ad-libbing in recording, which is fun.

(10:35) Next comes in is the first guest, Kaori Mizuhashi, who of course plays Tomoe Mami. Apparently, at some point they thought that the ad-libs were getting a little too clever so they stopped doing that. Things like the 'ehe' when Homura shows off her soul gem ring and fingernail. They had her do that a bunch of times. And then they're all on the roof, "coming out" (in English) to each other (according to Yuuki; Saitou says to stop or else she'll read into it too far). They all feel like they want to live like this, all together, with the honest Homura.

They're all happy together. They also were very shocked by Kyubey only saying "kyuu". He's a proper mascot character. "When will he talk", everyone thinks. Even the seiyuu were all wondering while reading the first half of the script, "He's not talking."

(14:38) But for this new movie, the relation between Kyousuke and Hitomi is much more clear here. (They then talk about stuff that I can't understand, but I'm pretty sure that among what they say reference this video, which is a rather hilarious Japanese comedy skit) Basically they're laughing at the fact that Hitomi is trying really hard, but Kyousuke keeps refusing her, which is what happens in the skit with the "old guy" trying to proposition the "widow Akemi-chan" robot and her refusing him with "Dameyo, dame dame!" Man, what a girl in love, they say, until suddenly she starts boxing her pillow. They find it funny that when she's alone, she is quite foolish compared to her dignified outside persona.

And then the nightmare comes, Hitomi saying "I don't need Sundays anymore!", and they laugh at that being how nightmares are born. Except Yuuki then says that every week she says the same thing about Mondays. It's not that hard to spawn a nightmare, it seems. Probably every college student thinks the same thing every Monday as well.

Part B

Ah, it's Mami changing. Mizuhashi says "Now they've found out how she does her hair." Now there's "mojumobe" as Yuuki puts it, eating Mami's hair pin. And then Mami uses magic to fix her hair. They say it looks awfully convenient, but at the same time they like Mami with her hair down. She looks very adult, but she's supposed to be a middle schooler? (9th grader for the rest of the world)

(17:27) Now they're in the nightmare's world. They comment on Kyouko's line saying that if Sayaka's calling Kyousuke oblivious, it definitely has a lot of weight. They like that line, but they also definitely like Kyouko so they might be biased. But Sayaka really feels refreshing, probably because she's with Kyouko. At this time, Sayaka actually knows everything. Mizuhashi says that normally, knowing everything but keeping it quiet would be cool, but for some reason in this case she thinks it isn't. (It's really hard to understand, but that's partly because she doesn't exactly know how to say it and that makes it confusing.)

(18:33) Now they're going into the transformation sequence. Very cute, they all say. Mami does a dance. Yuuki says "Ore to Mami-san, me ga atta!" "Our eyes met" like a guy would say. Kyouko's up next, and again Yuuki is all over her. "It's me, Kyouko-chan. I'm here, Kyouko-chan." She's so cool, she says. Red. And then Sayaka breakdances. Saitou asks "Who decided on that?" Then it's Homuhomu. Saitou says that she wouldn't really move that much. Yuuki says she wants Homura's magical girl outfit tights.

Finally is Madoka, who is like an idol. Is that Homura's impression of Madoka that's influencing these transformations? Mizuhashi points out the 'Madoka' written in katakana in the background, but clearly they didn't notice the runes. They also comment on the volume her eyelashes which you can see in the side profile shot. She has a different sense here from the TV series. "Yellow is the center!" comments Yuuki when they all pose saying "Holy Quintet". (Normally red is the center in sentai shows and such, which is why it's weird.) She then says "This Just Isn't Right (こんなの絶対おかしいよ,Konna no zettai okashii yo)." Mami apparently set up the poses and team name and such, according to the setting.

And then now they're all working together. How strong they are when all working together. They also name their attacks, like Tiro Duet where they combine Madoka's arrows and Mami's ribbons. They all have their final attacks now.

(23:20) Now is the Cake Song, which they say was probably the toughest thing to voice act. The first time they did it, there was no character art, just 3DCG mockups that looked kinda creepy. But they had a metronome that they had to sing along with. They wonder, did Mami come up with the song? Homura really isn't used to the song... It was apparently actually harder to do it incorrectly. But after she messed up, Madoka came in just right. CAKE And there's a pumpkin. Who said pumpkin? (That was Homura)

Somehow, they feel like it's not that cruel, actually. There's Sayaka who caught the Hitomi head. And that sinful boy, Kyousuke, but they forgive him because he's just a middle schooler, still. It's nice, they say, that everyone's there for Sayaka though. In the TV series she was always alone. All of their soul gems are purified so easily, all together. It's so happy.

And then it's morning. "Kyuu!" Saitou says that personally, she's glad that Mami has Bebe. She's not alone anymore. "Get married already!" says Yuuki to Kyouko and Sayaka. The first half of the show really is quite peaceful.

Yuuki then wonders about foreign screenings of the film; how do they render the 'Mascarpone' and other such katakana text? Saitou suggests that the captioning would change. It seems like people all around the world enjoyed Madoka. It doesn't particularly seem to be set in Japan, so it's not like there's a cultural barrier to appreciating it.

(28:59) Next we start to see the anonymous characters losing their faces; anyone Homura doesn't remember gets a watercolor blob. They laugh because she only remembers Nakazawa. Apparently, during the rooftop scene, Homura's bentou got fancier since recording time.

Then they say something about shooting film. Something about going to a camera store and them developing it for you.

(30:15) Then they welcome a new guest, Ai Nonaka who plays Sakura Kyouko. (Mizuhashi is still there, though.) This is the first meeting of Kyouko and megane Homura. The first person she consulted about her suspicions was Kyouko. Saitou says she probably couldn't ask anyone else. While Kyouko certainly is easy to talk to, Madoka is right out and the others are probably too hard to ask. It'd feel like you're ruining Mami's dreams, and Sayaka would probably just get angry and argue about it. Kyouko really listens to you. She really acts according to her feelings, says Nonaka, while Yuuki adds that that's characteristic of a red character. I can't tell exactly what she's saying, but Yuuki says something about (wanting to be?) Kyouko's chair? Or something.

Saitou then brings up again the fact that the people that Homura doesn't remember well have become very fuzzy. Other things in the background become repeated to fill in the gaps when she can't remember things. But it really gives you the feeling of a dream you can't wake up from. The scenery is slowly changing; there's no boundary anymore. Yuuki says that the sloppiness of Homura's imagination in places away from where Madoka lived is really scary. But at the same time, riding the bus when you're not used to it is also very unsettling. Where is it taking you, you'd wonder. Mizuhashi says that she often has bad dreams like this where you can't get where you're trying to go... Because it is renewing this sort of feeling that mostly everyone has experienced before, it has a greater impact on the people viewing. It's more real. Nothing's actually happening, but it's still scary.

The 'mada dame yo' song plays again now. (Actually 'raise the curtain' on the soundtrack). Nonaka mentions a humming version that Saitou recorded but it seems they never actually used. One time she listened it for a whole day and became really depressed. (It seems to be the song that Homura hums in the post credits scene in the 1st Take version of the audio)

(36:17) Magical girls really have leg strength, notes Yuuki. They've just jumped right onto the hood of the speeding bus without a care. And the bus number has changed again; when they get on it's #15 but when they get off it's #31.

But now it gets really crazy. Saitou says that here Homura's balance is difficult to act. She is wearing the glasses, but inside she's all messed up. She's in the process of waking up from her dream. Nonaka also notices that whenever Homura takes off her glasses, her socks also change to full tights. They laugh, "will she use magic to change her clothes?" Just like how Mami used magic to style her hair. They've been noticed! Scary, they all have Kyouko and Homura's faces (though Yuuki accidentally says "Kyouko and Sayaka") because Homura doesn't know them.

At this point, they still didn't know what would happen the second half of the movie. But she did somehow have a hunch that the culprit was herself. Maybe 95% herself, 5% Madoka. And maybe a slight chance it was Kyubey. But there was still a chance that Madoka made this world. Here Homura takes off her glasses, and they wonder when her socks will change. She still has her braids though. She takes them off now. Now she's badass Homura with socks, very rare.

Part C

(39:55) Now she's realized that she's in a witch's labyrinth. The pictures are continuously getting less saturated And she's changed into tights. This is what she read for the film trailer. Now in hindsight it's clear she wasn't actually lying at all. It's really sad, though. She's happy in her own world, but if she notices what's wrong, it'll all fall apart. She should be fine just staying in there. She's not causing any trouble.

Now they're in Mami's apartment. Saitou says that while most people thought that Homura was very standoffish with Mami, she was kind in that she gave her Bebe as a companion. When Mami's not alone, she's really strong though. Oh yeah, they say, it might still be Bebe's fault. They also wonder why nobody's asking about the image change. Where'd your glasses go? Why didn't you braid your hair?

They wonder how much other people understand of what Bebe says? Mami seems to know quite clearly, but others probably just nod and smile at whatever Bebe's saying. Go with the flow, or something.

They say that Mami hopping away looking kinda scary. She has already realized about Homura, and even without transforming has placed a ribbon on her. They also laugh at how Homura doesn't know how to handle living things, since she picks Bebe up by the head.

What's happening to Nagisa inside, they wonder.

Mami and Homura are pretty similar. They understand each other very well.

(47:03) So cool! Angry Mami-san!

They say that from here, you probably will want to step through frame by frame.

Then comes her big scene in the movie. Sayaka she says is someone who, like Homura, keeps repeating her penance. (I think that's what she's saying.) Sayaka is nice on the outside, but here she shows how she's in a higher position than Homura. Every time, Sayaka gets too cocky, and what happens spices up the story. Sayaka's testing Homura right now.

When she first got the script, she suspected that Urobuchi was getting too tired to make a new plot given that he copy-pasted the beginning of the TV series again. The transfer student and all. But now, Homura is trying to judge whether Sayaka was an ally or an enemy. Is she good, is she bad, why is she confronting Homura? Just by the words in the script, it wasn't clear to her. You could take it more than one way.

(1:00:09) Kitamura says she's talked the whole time Sayaka has had this cool scene. It's tough doing commentary, she says. (It's tough translating what she says! But it's getting easier the more I do.)

Apparently this long-awaited new installation of Madoka has had many parts (a, b, c, d, e). A big thick script. It's something really worth seeing, she says. Somehow though, she says that the stage directions were really interesting. The lines and the stage directions, the way the images are laid out. It gives you the shivers, she says.

She says that Saitou really did a good job as Homura. But she's glad that all the characters got their time in the spotlight, like Sayaka. Urobuchi told her at some celebration (after the recap movies?) that Sayaka will be in good spirits this time around, just kidding! But it really happened.

(Now Madoka and Homura are in the boat) Kitamura says that her big impression right now is "yuri". They depict a lot of couples. She was glad to see some HomuSaya.

She says that it's really deep. There are many threads and connections, but even the actors didn't know.

She talks about how Madoka's really straightforward in Rebellion. She faces Homura and says what she really feels. And then she starts braiding Homura's hair! They're so close!

And then, Homura is enlightened. (the light shining down on her and the flowers all turning purple) And then the flowers all wilt, and then turn into lights. And the music... And her hair is undoing itself!

It's here! She's falling into darkness!

Part D

(1:08:27) Now Homura is talking to Kyouko. Kyouko is freeloading, it seems? But she's really nice. She makes a good combination with Homura.

She mentions that this part is a bit confusing if you only watch it once; you don't notice her leaving her soul gem behind. Now she says she's waiting for her favorite line. 'This means I'm not even a magical girl any longer?' (It happens a bit later than she remembers) Then there are Homura owls. This stuff wasn't in the script, but she wished they had put it in so they could see what was going to be happening. And now there are the kid voices in the background. Very scary. It's like when Homura and Kyouko were talking, there were kids playing around in a creepy manner.

And now, her time is up.

(1:12:14) Aoi Yuuki, Chiwa Saitou, and this time Emiri Katou bow in now. Finally, Kyubey talks. It's in the second half of the script. In the first half, Kyubey was only cute, and would say "Kyuu". Occasionally, he'd rub Madoka's head like comforting her. But people were probably all thinking "There's no way he's actually this nice."

It's really coming out, him not having said anything for quite a while.

She was worried in the first half that there weren't many last minute red pen corrections [that she had to make] in the script, since she thought they were passing over her role. (Of course there weren't many corrections, because he was only going "Kyuu".)

But after she got the second half of the script, she went "WAAAAGH, HE'S TALKING!"

As soon as he starts talking, says Saitou, he really launches into quite a long explanation. Lots of long lines. The only one left holding onto secrets, finally giving away the trick. He's saying lots of difficult things.

The first half almost gives away nothing about the second half. Yuuki says Kyubey's explanation kinda complicated though, she read through the script many times trying to figure out what it means. They had to wait until they were compiling stuff before they found out exactly what was going on because the descriptions of the character locations was so complicated.

They were also surprised by the quantity of Incubators there were. During the trailer recording, there were many Kyubey eyes; they were like "Could it be?" But all by herself she did lots of Kyubeys. They're all Kyubey, but they wanted to make them all slightly different. "A slightly fat Kyubey" "An old-man Kyubey"

Now they laugh since now that they've mentioned the different voices, the viewers will be going back and listening through all of Kyubey's lines.

It's really great to look at. Katou says that part of the appeal of Madoka Magica is that really everything is amazing. You can't possibly take it in in one viewing. The cuts are really fast. You have to stop it and look at things. The witch runes, for example. People will be translating them.

Now Homura's feelings are really coming out in the picture. Homura doesn't actually show it on her face, but now the animation, the color, is really expressing her emotions. Yuuki notes though that throughout this whole scene though, Kyubey still has that sick grin of his. He's running around like crazy, but he's still cute and smiling.

She also comments on the sound effects, like the cracking sound in you hear with Homura's soul gem. It was really scary in the theaters, she says. They really have nice acoustics. Katou adds though that watching it with nice headphones on will make it sound completely different again.

This really is quite frightening. Love is one thing. It's a really internal motivation. Makes her withdraw into herself.

Katou says that at their age, that sort of emotion really wells up. In middle school years, they get jealous of their friends. It just refreshes her impression that kids in puberty are really complicated.

(1:21:55) This is a really sad scene, they say. It was a really good scene in the opening animation of the second movie. (apparently, I don't remember it.) And then this is a witch. In the TV series, they're the enemy, but now it's really a sad existence. Inside the witch, there's so much sadness.

This is how they break, huh? It's so sad. There are so many magical girls and they all went through this?

Kyouko here is really cool, they say. Sitting on that bench.

Part E

HOMULILLY TIME

Yuuki says that the scene of the little Homura soldiers marching kinda reminds her of a vegetable grater. Kinda funny. Lots of HomuHomu soldiers.

It really looks like as a witch she's hurting herself.

Madoka's the only one that doesn't know what's going on, at this moment. Kyubey is trying to split them up, but they like that Kyouko calls him out on his being able to talk normally. And then there's Bebe staring at him. "So you talked!"

Saitou noticed though that in that scene, only Madoka's face was properly shown. Everyone else who knew what was going on at that point had their faces hidden.

And here is Sayaka's really awesome, but also really shocking transformation into her witch form.

"They're not actually magical girls!" So cool. It moves you.

It's one form of salvation for these girls, they get to return to normal. They fail once, but now they're actually even stronger. Sayaka now is not fighting with Homura anymore. Rather than friendship, it's the sense of being the same; both are witches now.

The fight scenes are so cool. The magical girls really must have enhanced fighting skills.

IT'S HERE! HISSATSU! The train-cupcake-cannon.

It's really awesome here, Saitou says. Homura is holed up in her own little world, while her friends are working to rescue her.

(1:31:31) What is actually right here? Does she have to be the real Madoka?

Madoka's such a good girl. Yuuki says that her philanthropy is actually hurting Homura here though.

They showed the scene with Homura in the watery field after Walpurgisnacht, and that's really the beginning of everything. That's what Homura really can't forget about it. She can't meet that Madoka anymore, which is weighing heavily on her.

Here, the conversation bizarrely doesn't mesh well, says Yuuki. When she she first read the script, she wondered what exactly was going on, but when she saw it in action she was like "Oh that's that weird part".

They both choose different paths at the same time.

Homura's soul gem has such a pretty color.

This is the remains of Mitakihara, they wonder? They're in a tough spot. They haven't been rescued by the Law of Cycles yet?

It's really like a former battlefield. Everyone here must be thinking "Ah, it's the ending, we saw so much!" "She's come to get you." Madoka's a god, Yuuki says, but Homura gets some special treatment.

They were confused when in the stage directions it said that they came on elephants, but they realized why (same elephants from Walpurgisnacht in Episode 11) when they saw them.

And here it comes. Aaaaahh, scary! In the world, this is the most common form of love, says Saitou. It's shown in a very fancy manner, but in real life the one-sided love is far more common than the happy requited love.

Yuuki says that like this it's like Homura is evil. Madoka's justice is really pure.

Yuuki said that she had no clue how Madoka was going to be 'ripped apart' from reading the script. It really moved her too.

On the surface, it seems like a really bad thing to overwrite the world resulting from Madoka's selfless wish just for one's own desires. But the first Madoka's wish didn't have to do with that.

(1:38:06) Homura's taken an interest in Kyubey. It's a bit of an undesirable relationship that they can't avoid. Even in the previous world, Kyubey acted cutest with Homura. Acting like a cat, although saying scary things.

He probably showed himself in a form as appealing as possible for 14-year-olds.

And then Homura's big transformation scene. In the script, apparently it wasn't determined whether or not to actually call herself a demon or not. It's no more than a title that would be given by someone else, but she does say it herself.

And then she's petting Kyubey really roughly. But cats would really like that, says Saitou. Yuuki says that cats actually like it more the harder you pet them.

Katou then wonders, which exactly is good and evil? It makes you think about your own love. Both justice and love are in the same sort of framework, but they're kinda orthogonal to each other. Carrying out justice and nuturing love are completely different; they can only kickstart each other.

Saitou says she thought that it's kinda scary, but she's wondering if that'sher preconceived notions. The crows that Kyouko is playing with are scary because they're black, but in this world they're actually kinda fun, everyday things. Very mysterious.

Homura's soul gem has changed shape; Yuuki wants earbuds with an over the ear type thing like that.

Sayaka, even to the end, is trying to uphold her justice. Even in the TV series, Katou said she liked Sayaka. She's the coolest one of them, said Yuuki. Saitou said she's the most normal, in a good way.

The scene with Nagisa running in the background was apparently rather difficult for Kana Asumi to act. It's like one of those 'laughing while running' things that are hard to at normally. She's really running.

And then there's Homura getting hit by the tomatoes, and suddenly everything is back to normal. Hitomi is with Kamijou...so sad. Sayaka's really been tortured by reality and love... She's so nice... But she still has the magical girl nail marking.

And now Madoka transfers in. She's really well fit to this. Totally the picture-perfect transfer student. Now she spent time in America, apparently. Yuuki laughs "What if in the future she has to speak English?"

Yuuki then says something about how she was shocked when first reading the script about how Homura really couldn't rely on anyone but herself to protect Madoka. She's really trapped; she has to do it all herself.

Then they laugh about how all the other classmates are avoiding Homura. "She's here!" type stuff. "Don't get involved with her." Very unreal type feeling.

And now the roles are reversed. But the acting and lines are pretty close to the original. However, Homura is different, so Madoka is also behaving different.

Yuuki says Homura's straightforwardness normally flags Madoka's "justice sensor" and they easily become friends, but here she wonders whether they actually can be friends.

Saitou was really impressed upon by this scene. She really regrouped after 'catching' Madoka, but this was the most different and so she's really panicked. Before (in the TV series?) she was actually really controlled, but now she's like "Ah this is bad, ahhh, it almost went back".

Then they bring up the 1st take version, where Homura sounds very relaxed and...evil. Yuuki said that she could hear simply from Saitou's acting "This person is bad news, scary". When she saw it though, she was like "Huh, Homura's not very composed here".

Saitou says that in the second recording (which was used for the movie), she's very much more human. She had to change how she thought about the character. In the first take version, she's openly become a crazy demon, but they told her to act more like the previous Homura, who all in all is still somewhat of a middle schooler.

During the recording, there wasn't much of a basis to go on. The drawings weren't finished, just some scary facial expressons, which is why her first take was such a different interpretation. So once the art was closer to done, she recorded it again.

But she says that neither is inherently better. You may like one or the other. Saitou and Yuuki both say that they like both, but Yuuki says that both Homuras are still thinking of Madoka.

Saitou says that she wants to know what the viewers feel when watching. She thought that taking the movie on its own, the way they depicted love really made her examine her own thoughts on it.

Katou thought that both Homuras had the same feeling of love, but they way they expressed it was different. She kinda wished that she could live expressing love like that. She feels like there's really a time you need to let out your greed like 1st take version of Homura. Greed is not a strictly bad thing. She really liked the human feeling though from the main version of Homura who is holding back her greed for the sake of Homura. The whole work overflows with human feelings, and she felt like she learned a lot from it.

Yuuki then says that now she's wondering what is justice and what's evil. Even if it's not 'correct', it's good because Homura's trying so hard. Kyubey isn't absolutely evil, but neither is Homura.

Whose world will become standard? It depends on their own profit, who will control it. It feels waking up from a dream, says Saitou. You at first don't know which you want more, which one is real.

Yuuki says that the MadoMagi scene is really good at finding these aspects. Depending on the perspective, it can seem really scary. Especially Rebellion. Saitou really wants to frame step through it, and find the meaning in each frame.

BD changes comparison:

Yuuki noted again that they had done over 1300 retakes for the DVD/Blu-Ray releases. Mostly redone. They even redid some of the voice acting, which surprised Katou. And they even retook some of the 1st take version of Homura, which didn't even get used!

Yuuki then says that finally, spoilers are ok. Saitou says that it's up to the viewer to decide what's better, what's more right. So, enjoy whichever you want.